Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Time rewound five minutes.

When Wizard Smith discovered that the emperor's magic pressure had returned to its peak, and that the total magic pressure reserves within the empire and the mind network were recovering, and that the confidence of the people had returned, causing the mind network's total magic pressure to trend further upward, he immediately used his Grand Magic, Meteor from Beyond the Heavens, to launch a meteorite into the Emperor's Hall in the rebellious province.

That meteorite broke through layer after layer of resistance and landed directly before the emperor.

Then, on the palace floor where it had fallen, Wizard Smith used the star power projected through his Grand Magic, Meteor from Beyond the Heavens, to create a star power avatar of himself.

Second Circle Magic, Starlight Projection.

This spell model used star power as its foundation to create an avatar whose strength was only one tenth of the caster's true body.

The advantage was that this Starlight Projection avatar could project multiple copies of itself to anywhere in the entire world, and even beyond the world, so long as it was a place where a meteorite from the Meteor from Beyond the Heavens could be sent.

Wizard Smith's current magic pressure was 11,000, so his Starlight Projection had a magic pressure of 1,100.

However, he had already incorporated one Grand Magic Rune into this spell model, causing the magic pressure of the Starlight Projection avatar created by this spell model to increase out of nowhere, rising from one tenth of the true body's strength to one third of the true body's magic pressure.

So the magic pressure of this Starlight Projection avatar became 3,665.

The difference between the two was quite significant.

After all, 1,100 magic pressure was only that of an ordinary First Circle wizard, while 3,665 magic pressure was already at the level of a First Circle wizard in the vaporization stage.

By incorporating the Starlight Projection spell model into a Grand Magic Rune, he had effectively slotted this spell model into the Meteor from Beyond the Heavens, enhancing the Meteor from Beyond the Heavens' ability to project meteorites to the earth and carry certain information within them.

This was also why Wizard Smith's current Grand Magic, Meteor from Beyond the Heavens, could project meteorites to the earth, fulfill some minor wish of whoever picked one up, and draw them into the Star Spirit Clan.

This was due to the functional supplement the Starlight Projection spell model provided to the Meteor from Beyond the Heavens.

Under ordinary circumstances, constructing a spell model quickly and then incorporating a Grand Magic Rune into it would have been quite a challenge for him.

But at this moment he had one assistant, and with the help of that second person, combined with his own effort to seize the time available, he had managed to construct a Second Circle spell model and then incorporate one Grand Magic Rune into it within such a short period.

It was also his only Grand Magic Rune at present.

At this moment, inside the Emperor's Hall, the emperor looked at Wizard Smith's avatar before him, radiant with starlight and appearing as though a star god had descended to the mortal world.

The emperor sat on his iron throne and said, "Do you know, before you brought your stars here, this world had very few stars of its own? I once briefly left the main material plane of this world to look outside, and found that my world was situated in a sparse region of the plane cluster."

"At the time of creation, the main material plane of this world did not form many semi-planes along its crystal wall system. And the stars visible to the naked eye are generally the semi-planes on the crystal wall system, or the planar light emitted from other planes beyond the world."

"Starlight is simply refracted planar light."

Wizard Smith's Starlight Projection avatar curved the corner of its mouth. This avatar resembled a star god, standing three meters tall, its body a semi-transparent shell composed of compressed starlight, with galaxy-like dark blue light veins flowing through its interior.

With each step it took, it left a beetle-shaped constellation mark on the ground, which only faded after roughly three seconds.

In the emperor's eyes, at the core of this avatar's chest a nebula burned, and with each breath came the gravitational pull of comets.

So powerful, so extraordinarily imposing.

Although the magic pressure gap between them was enormous, the emperor had the strange impression that this avatar before him was very troublesome.

Wizard Smith's Starlight Projection avatar said, "A man of uncommon insight. Are you a wizard?"

The emperor paused, and his eyes grew distant. "From the moment you all entered this world, I suspected you had come from that great world."

"You have come from the Other Shore Great World, have you not?"

Beneath the Silent Throne, quite a few wizard spectators began murmuring to one another. The Other Shore Great World... what a name they had not heard in so long.

During the Age of Enlightenment, because the wizard world was enthusiastic about freely sharing knowledge with the outside world and regarded the infinite void as its future potential allies and kindred friends, the various colonized worlds of that era did not refer to the wizard world as the Nightmare Legion or the Great World of Truth, but rather as the Other Shore Great World.

The wizard world was regarded as something like a paradise, a place of wondrous dreams.

Wizard Smith's starlight avatar did not respond, since he had no idea that the common perception of the wizard world in this era was the Other Shore Great World.

Nor did he care about it.

The emperor asked, "Why do you say I am a wizard?"

Wizard Smith said simply, "According to the laws of my world, specifically the Pan-Magical Species Wizard Law, you have accepted the gifts of wizard civilization, and that is sufficient to qualify you as a wizard."

The emperor said, "You want to ally yourself with me?"

The emperor was a master of political maneuvering, and in an instant he immediately grasped the true purpose behind Wizard Smith's roundabout approach, coming before him and striking up conversation.

Wizard Smith looked at this native emperor with a trace of surprise. He had not expected the other party to react so quickly.

Wizard Smith said, "You and I set aside our conflicting interests for now and take the first step of removing another wizard. This benefits both of us. He is my competitor and one of your enemies."

"Removing him means one fewer competitor for me, and one fewer enemy for you. Why would either of us object?"

A flicker crossed the emperor's eyes. "So these people from the Other Shore Great World are this kind of person. Ha. I can rest easy now. It seems there are no such noble people in the world as that meteorite once described. The words on that meteorite kept me awake many nights."

"Now I see that everyone is the same after all."

The emperor said, "We have a deal. You and I combine our strength to remove a common enemy first."

Wizard Smith paid no attention whatsoever to anything this native said, nor did he care about any opinion the emperor held of him.

Because in his eyes, none of that mattered.

Wizard Smith said, "There is one more thing. The person in your imperial capital called Locke Augustine is also, like me, someone who has come from beyond the heavens. I intend to kill him as well."

Beneath the emperor's armor, his eyes flickered. He instinctively doubted Wizard Smith's claim. "No. I refuse."

"First, there is no way for me to know whether what you say is true or false."

"Second, even if what you say is true, this person is a loyal subject in my eyes, and at this moment he is of enormous help to me. I cannot afford to lose his assistance. If you wish to form an alliance with me, you may not lay a hand on Duke Schiller."

The corner of Wizard Smith's Starlight Projection avatar's mouth twitched.

Well then. How on earth had Locke managed to climb to such a high position on the native side?

And to earn this level of trust on top of it.

Wizard Smith thought it over and could only accept the situation with reluctance. "Very well, but you must cooperate with me and help me remove the fourth wizard hidden somewhere within your empire."

The emperor said, "That I can do."

And so the two of them successfully joined forces.

At this moment, Wizard Smith watched as his meteorite and the emperor's psychic shockwave struck Wizard Edgar simultaneously.

He broke into a hearty laugh. "The emperor and I actually have no absolute conflict of interest. My absolute conflicts of interest are only with you other competitors."

He had not come here to conduct a plane conquest. He had come to compete in a competition.

That meant defeating the emperor was actually only one optional path.

As long as he could win the competition ahead of schedule, it would not matter even if he left the emperor completely alone.

Even if the emperor ended up winning in the end, it would be of no concern.

Because all he needed to do was win against the other competitors.

At this moment, Wizard Edgar's holy avatar suffered an instant and devastating blow.

A Second Circle wizard's soul was deeply linked to their magic source, so when Edgar was struck by these two Second Circle-level magical attacks that tore through his permanent defensive force field and inflicted damage upon him, what was fundamentally being damaged was the Temporal Shadow Fern.

Within the Land of All Spirits formed by the Temporal Shadow Fern and the many fern magical plants together, vast stretches of its outer regions were collapsing. Temporal Shadow Fern plants were combusting one by one, and the entire Land of All Spirits was in turmoil.

The Land of All Spirits lost control of the plant spirits, causing enormous numbers of them to fly out of the Land of All Spirits and into this world.

The balance of life and death was broken once again.

The world consciousness that had just begun to revive was immediately dealt a heavy blow and was once again suppressed by the mind network.

The world's will quickly recognized that Wizard Smith had not only betrayed Edgar, but had also betrayed this world.

Wizard Edgar turned his head in fury toward Wizard Smith. At this moment Edgar's magic pressure quality was still at 13,000, but his total magic pressure was hemorrhaging rapidly.

Magic pressure quality was sustained by assets, which was the framework of the Grand Magic, while total magic pressure was sustained by the flowing magic pressure of this world.

With the Land of All Spirits now in massive disarray, the cycle of life and death balance broken, and the world consciousness once again suppressed, the total magic pressure of Wizard Edgar naturally suffered a severe decline.

Wizard Smith gave him a strange look. "Curious. You have two Grand Magic Runes. You could clearly use a Grand Magic Blessing to share a portion of your Grand Magic's authority with one of Quinn Jol's wizards, and then have them help you incorporate a Grand Magic Rune into a Second Circle spell."

"And yet you do not do it. Even now, you still do not act."

"No matter, it is none of my concern. Efficiency first." Wizard Smith glanced at the badly wounded Wizard Edgar, then left him and the emperor where they were and charged toward the western part of the empire.

Under his agreement with the emperor, his responsibility was only to help the emperor deal a heavy blow to Edgar. Whatever happened after that, whether the emperor could finish Edgar off or not, was no longer his concern.

Otherwise he would simply be working for the emperor, and once the emperor had dealt with Edgar, he would immediately turn his sights on him.

Wizard Smith, a person who placed such emphasis on efficiency, would naturally not commit such a foolish error. 'Let the native emperor and Edgar tear each other apart, then I will go and drive Witch Georgina out of this world. After that, I will circle back and clean up both the heavily depleted emperor and Edgar.'

'That leaves only Locke. Whatever he is trying to do, he has not even brought his Grand Magic down yet, nor has he accumulated any of the effort needed to bring it down. So my victory is assured.'

A cold calculation flashed through Wizard Smith's eyes.

As a wizard of Storm Tower's Smith Family, he had been taught from childhood that efficiency came first.

For the sake of efficiency, everything else could be disregarded.

'Kill Witch Georgina, absorb the capital she holds in this world, and the total magic pressure of my Grand Magic can swell once more,' Wizard Smith thought.

As for how to find Witch Georgina, that was actually quite simple.

The emperor could not find her because he was not a true wizard and had not received a complete education in wizard civilization.

As fellow Second Circle wizards, locating each other within this world was comparatively straightforward.

At this moment, Wizard Smith descended upon the western provinces of the empire, treading the wind and flying through the sky. Behind him, one hundred and eight stars appeared and formed into a meteor shower, becoming the Meteor from Beyond the Heavens.

Then from within the Meteor from Beyond the Heavens semi-plane, countless meteorites rained down.

Those meteorites fell toward the western border region.

Wizard Smith's eyes were cold. These attacks were not meant to strike Witch Georgina. They were meant to destroy the foundations of Witch Georgina's charitable society.

His thinking was clear.

Pulling a Second Circle wizard out of hiding among a vast sea of people in an extremely short time was admittedly impossible, but the other party was someone whose temple could not run away even if the monk could.

For her to bring her Grand Magic down, she could not separate herself from the charitable society, so he would simply launch a sweeping attack across several western provinces.

From the sky to the ground to the sea, a comprehensive assault.

He would sweep these several provinces with a meteor shower, forcing Witch Georgina to come out on her own.

If she did not intervene, her entire charitable society would be sent straight to oblivion, and once the apocalypse arrived, there would be nothing left of her charity work.

Whether Witch Georgina chose to intervene or not, she would lose either way.

Wizard Smith calculated the probability that she would intervene and found it to be quite high.

This strategy of his actually had three significant problems.

The first was that it would offend the world's will, and after doing this he feared the world's will would never side with him again.

The second was that it would offend the emperor.

The third was that this competition was still under the observation of the Eye of Truth, and conduct like this mass slaughter would fully qualify as the malicious destruction of a civilization.

It would likely result in a colossal deduction of civilization credit points.

But Wizard Smith carefully weighed it all and concluded that the gains from winning this competition and claiming the championship for Storm Tower far outweighed these three consequences, so he went ahead with it anyway.

Furthermore, the precondition for all three problems to actually materialize was that Witch Georgina would do absolutely nothing to intervene.

But that was impossible.

If she did nothing, she would very likely finish dead last in this competition.

Wizard Smith stood in the sky with a smile at the corner of his mouth. "Efficiency first. This method has the highest efficiency."

At this moment, the world's will of the Silent Plane expressed profound fury toward him, and even the emperor in the distance had not expected that this ally of his, someone who had come from the Other Shore Great World, could be so wicked, willing to do something that even the emperor, who considered himself a villain, would never do.

And Wizard Edgar looked at Wizard Smith with contempt.

Beneath the Silent Throne, the lead teacher from Storm Tower nodded with satisfaction. "Clean and decisive. That is exactly what you would expect from a wizard trained at our Storm Tower."

Wizard Rush gave a slight smile. "No matter how many years pass, the character of wizards trained at your Storm Tower never changes."

Wizard Chad Schultz also nodded in agreement. "Although this approach does not violate the competition rules, this is a commercial competition, broadcast live to the entire Cloud Marsh Wetlands."

"The conduct you display in this competition also represents the image of Storm Tower in the eyes of so many wizards, as well as future students who may one day wish to enroll. Storm Tower is one of the seven premier academies of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. Why stoop to winning in such an unsavory manner under the eyes of the whole world?"

The moon ring witch from Bonifacius University also nodded in agreement.

The Storm Tower lead teacher flushed red and snapped back in embarrassed fury, "A competition is a competition, and winning is the whole point. What is all this talk about values? The students from the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and the various wizard lands, along with the formal wizards who may one day partner with us, will only cooperate with winners and enroll in the schools of winners."

"If you lose, that is when you end up with nothing at all."

At this moment, in the Storm Tower spectator section, a number of wizards were cheering and declaring that Wizard Smith's approach was the most ancient and most traditional way of doing things in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

In the spectator section of Kungudin Construction Academy, Wizard Mac clenched his fist. "How did someone like this end up getting the upper hand? This is genuinely unpleasant to watch."

The sun ring wizard beside him smiled. "Mac, although Storm Tower's methods are vile and obsessed with efficiency to the exclusion of all else, those methods genuinely do have the highest efficiency."

"So it is no surprise that they win. You and I should just sit and watch. By observing this kind of major Cloud Marsh Wetlands competition, our Kungudin Academy wizards can better understand what kind of wizard land this is."

"Of course, our Kungudin Construction Academy comes from the Nine Origin Mountain wizard land. So as far as I am concerned personally, I cannot accept this kind of conduct."

"In Nine Origin Mountain, if you win, you win beautifully. Values must matter more than winning or losing."

"If you must abandon your values in order to win, then it is better to lose."

Wizard Mac nodded in agreement.

In the Nine Origin Mountain wizard land, values were a very important thing.

That was why Kungudin Construction Wizard Academy, after losing an academic standing challenge match, had packed up and relocated overnight in order to prevent its values of placing quality above all else from being changed.

Kungudin Construction Academy could accept losing, but it absolutely could not accept the reality that the entire academic rules of constructomancy in the Nine Origin Mountain wizard land would have to change.

In the Storm Tower spectator section, the general sentiment expressed was that Wizard Smith's approach was actually the most rational.

A large group of wizards from wizard academies across the Storm Tower district were all singing Wizard Smith's praises.

Two Second Circle wizards from the Tower of Transmutation exchanged a glance and said with resigned expressions, "The Storm Tower district really does live up to its reputation as the district that always ranks among the last several of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands' ten districts."

The Cloud Marsh Wetlands had a total of ten districts, seven of which each had one premier academy at its head.

The remaining three districts were dominated by alliances of medium-sized wizard academies that held things together there.

The seven premier academies could continuously attract the finest students from both the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and external wizard lands, the best formal wizards, the most substantial investments, the finest equipment, and held large numbers of journals and magazines along with the awards they presided over.

So as a general rule, the districts where the seven premier academies were located would rank higher in academic standings year after year than the three districts dominated by alliances of medium-sized wizard academies.

But the Storm Tower district was an exception. Most of the wizard academies in that wretched place bore the shadow of Storm Tower's influence.

Any wizard academy in the Storm Tower district that might pose a threat to Storm Tower would be suppressed before it could grow.

As a result, the Storm Tower district was the only district with a premier academy that could actually rank near the bottom of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands' academic standings.

There had been several occasions where it had genuinely finished last, which had left everyone thoroughly astonished.

In the Silent Plane.

Watching countless meteors rain down upon the entire western region of this world, Wizard Smith stood in the sky, looking down at the land and rapidly searching for Georgina's position.

'Still no reaction? If this continues, a good half of this world will be destroyed in an instant by me.'

Even Wizard Smith felt a touch of anxiety. This approach was rather extreme.

He was actually betting, above all, that Witch Georgina would not dare let her charitable society, which she had built up in this world, come to harm.

But if Witch Georgina did not appear and he truly destroyed this region, he would be completely forced onto a path where he had to speed-clear the rest of the competition.

Because this act of his would directly antagonize every player on the board.

If he could not speed-clear, he would be targeted by everyone, and he would not merely finish last. It would be the kind of last place that came after exhausting every scheme, committing every kind of controversial act, and having the vast majority of his civilization credit points deducted.

So Wizard Smith was actually quite tense at this moment.

Witch Georgina's response would determine how he should compete from here on.

In the next instant, above the western provinces, a golden loom the size of a house appeared in the sky, with three stools arranged around it.

Wizard Smith felt a measure of relief inside.

Witch Georgina had finally come out after all.

This way she would be able to block his magic, and he would not have to go to the extreme.

That golden loom wove out golden semi-transparent fabric after golden semi-transparent fabric, forming an enormous carpet that spread across the sky of the western provinces and blocked the meteor shower.

Beneath her mask, the fire in Witch Georgina's eyes was plain to see. "Wizard Smith, the White Wizard Association has strict laws. We are the spreaders of truth, not the destroyers of worlds."

"This competition is being broadcast live to the entire Cloud Marsh Wetlands. It is a public commercial competition. If black wizards were to see conduct like yours, what would they think? How would those black wizards come to regard us?"

Wizard Smith smiled. "But this method truly is the most efficient. Witch Georgina, you have lost."

"You came out and stopped me. In doing so you helped me, but you harmed yourself. Georgina, you have lost."